Too Old for Long-Distance Walking?

Maybe you backpacked in your 20s, ran road races in your 30s and 40s and climbed Kilimanjaro in your 50s. Suddenly you’re 65 and wondering, “What next?” Or maybe you did none of these but wish you had. I’ve met countless pilgrims, hikers and explorers well into their 70s out taking a walk that just might last ten, twenty or forty days. Equipped with these six tips, it’s not too late for long-distance hiking, walking and backpacking.

If I've learned anything from trodding more than 1,500 miles, mostly alone, along alpine trails in the Pyrenees and Alps and footpaths crisscrossing the United Kingdom, it's that it all begins with adequate training. Whether you’re sixteen or seventy-five, you’ll need to practice. Portland, Oregon’s Multnomah Athletic Club coach and triathlete, Lauren Binder, tells me, “I’ve won three world championships in my 60s but I assure you I trained differently than a 30-year-old.” Binder says that senior athletes, walkers included, need thoughtful conditioning to build a fitness base and extra time for recovery. A three-month training plan that worked in middle-age would be better spread over six-months to allow gradual mileage increases, more recovery time and leeway in case of injury or setback. Remember the goal: to walk for hours, day after day, and to enjoy the journey.

1. Build Endurance Intelligently

Start your training with a week of daily walks and keep a log where you record your route, distance, time, what you noticed and how you felt. Sharing your data and observations with practice partners, friends or grandkids will reinforce your efforts. A record’s also valuable for future training. Distance walking can be addictive!

Retired physical therapist, Robbie Johannesen, who ran the first Oregon marathon (in 1972), raced the 42-mile Round Mount Hood five times and topped Hood more than ten times, now in his 70s, advises seniors to slowly build a base for long-distance walking, whether on the Camino de Santiago or other multiday treks. He says, “Older athletes also need extra hydration during and after training walks.” Online, you can find comprehensive workout plans. Most suggest adding miles and time weekly. Binder, also advises that it’s a good idea to alternate easy and hard days, especially considering terrain. “If there are challenging days, a person needs to take more rest breaks,” she says.

To avoid tedium, every walk does not need to be a training walk. If you’re a retired senior, you can be creative. Try daily-doubles—walk in the morning, do an activity like swimming or yoga, and then walk again in the afternoon. Garage the car and walk to the store or post office. Take a bus to the edge of town and walk back in. Mow the lawn. Find ways to vary distance and terrain. ​Tiffany, an older working woman from Manhattan, told me she trained for a three-week trek by walking to and from her studio, forty minutes each way, in addition to her regular gym workouts. Another​ hiker, Janet, from Arizona, explored new neighborhoods as if she were in a foreign country, keeping track of mileage on her pedometer. If you begin your training able to walk 15 miles a week, by departure day (twenty-four weeks later) you should have experienced at least one week close to your expected weekly total: 70 to 90 miles.​ (I averaged 100 miles per week or 15 miles per day on the Camino.)

Photo Courtesy: Carolyn Wood

2. Strengthen Your Core

To walk for hours, you’ll need more than strong legs. Walker and author of guidebooks to Portland and the Pacific Northwest, Laura O. Foster says that distance walking compresses her spine, causing backaches. To minimize this, she focuses on her core. “I lengthen my spine: shoulders down, abdomen pulled back to spine, head held high, not staring at the ground ... when you ski, you look down the slope, not at your feet.” Swimming, water aerobics, Pilates and yoga all help build the core and keep you supple. I’ve been losing muscle mass since I turned 60 (bummer!), but what’s left gets toned with downward dogs and planks, water jogging, crunches and gardening.

3. Try Trekking Poles

A strong core helps with balance but so do walking poles. They lighten your steps, ease your knees, help propel you forward, aid you in detecting a path’s surface and may even prevent you from stumbling. An 80-year-old Italian woman smoked me on an uphill in Spain using her poles like a ski racer. But don’t wait until your trek to use them; start now to develop efficiency and to gain arm strength. Use them on asphalt, dirt, rock and mud. There’s a high chance you’ll encounter them all on your trek.

4. Practice Being Quiet

While walking with groups or a training partner helps time pass, prepare yourself for long stretches without company or conversation. Nobody chats seven hours a day for forty days. Take walks by yourself without entertainment. Seize the chance to notice the path, watch clouds scatter, let your thoughts wander and listen to your heart beat. Pay attention to yourself and the outdoor world. Make notes in your training log or write an entry to your child, grandkid or friend. Share in it what you noticed that afternoon or something that surprised you, and how it feels to be gaining strength and staying healthy at your age. Your efforts and observations carry important messages for the next generation.

Photo Courtesy: Carolyn Wood

5. Test Yourself

Check how far you can go in two or three hours on an unfamiliar trail. Walk with your pack light at first, but over time add weight, just as you added time and distance to your walks. Wear the boots and socks you plan to use all day long on various surfaces in all kinds of weather over and over again. Learn when and how to treat your feet. Find the fuel that keeps you going (peanuts and chocolate work for me). Use your poles. Try out your rain gear (in the shower if necessary). Test your Spanish or French or German with simple greetings and questions.

6. Learn Your Pace and Stick to It

“Remember youthful thrills but don’t try to repeat them. Leave your ego behind,” Johannasen reminds me in our yoga class. He means, back off when you feel too tired. Skip a workout now and then. The same applies to your walk. Don’t be bound by expectations, schedules or competition. Stop early. Take a bus. Linger over lunch. Remember your intention and relish the journey.

Carolyn Wood became one of the youngest athletes to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming. She is the author ofTough Girl: Lessons in Courage and Heart from Olympic Gold to the Camino de Santiago, a memoir that moves between her time training for the Olympics as a teenager to some 50 years later on a solo pilgrimage walking the 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago in an attempt to reclaim her "inner tough girl" as she reflects on coming out as gay in the 1970s after a brief marriage, motherhood and the sudden loss of a 30-year relationship.

Great article for all of us and hopefully inspiring for seniors to get out of the house and do it! I’m 66 and train year round for skiing,bycicling, backpacking, hiking and swimming. All this helps me in traveling/ camping throughout our country.

Great article and hopefully more folks pick up on the idea that being active in our later years is achievable and a key to happiness. I discovered bicycling recently and it has helped greatly in building strength while allowing my feet needed rest due to PF and MN. The reference to core strength is so spot on, and has really helped me maintain balance, strength and posture in all my activities. Thanks again for the inspirational article.

Enjoyed your article, thank you! and have enjoyed distance hiking for quite a few years now, including parts of the Camino de Frances, Wicklow Way in Ireland, etc. Next birthday 66 and did a 120km (6 days) stretch of the Caminho de Portugues recently. Most enjoyable, though it felt somewhat tougher than normal. I thought age was finally starting to catch up, although my pack was heavier than it should have been. But after reading your article, I have little doubt that more attention to adequate training was required leading up to the event. Lesson learned, and thanks again!

Just finished 17 miles of hiking in Minnewaska State Park and Catskills (7 miles on day 1, 5 each on day 2 and 3) including a climb of 1440 ft up Mt Overlook and I’m 60. I see no reason to stop hiking solo. OK with friends sometimes but time alone is awesome.

Great article. My husband and I walked every step of 800 kms across Spain last year for my 70th birthday and had the time of our lives, but only because we planned and trained for 18 months before we left and did the things that Carolyn recommends, eg used walking poles, paced ourselves instead of trying to keep up with people focused only on the walk instead of getting into the history, culture, etc. We loved it so much we are going to walk the 300 km Coast to Coast across England next May/June when I will be 71.

Hi Carolyn. Great trip of you! You are so healthy and endurable. It seems you really love adventure. You are my idol for taking care of health so I can go adventure trips in the long run. I have a plan with my friends to go trekking and camping next month, I’m so excited. I have just bought one by one essential items such as a camping hammock I bought from her http://www.pirt.org/best-camping-hammock/. I think this trip can fulfill my vacation with adventure.

Recently moved to Colorado after 25 years of family responsibilities and neglecting my body (overweight, weak). Am determined at 64 to do what I wish I had at 34 and 44 and 54. Am going to try to regain enough muscle, stamina, core strength to let me explore the mountains. A bit apprehensive I’m too late, but will forge ahead! Thanks for your tips.

You article was very informative, however my issue with long distances is the swelling of my feet that comes with walking numerous days in a row. I have done 60 mile walks for charities in 3 Days and because of the constant pounding on my feet end up with numerous blisters. I wear quality boots/shoes and socks. Any suggestions or recommendations?

I agree. Size up the boots and get some body glide or foot glide. In England, stuffing lambs wool between my toes and over a bunion did wonders. It’s full of lanolin, weaves into the sock, and eases the rub. Stopping every 2 – 3 hours, lying down (even on the ground) and getting your legs “up the wall” for a few minutes can reduce swelling too. When my day is done I sometimes pull on my airplane compression socks and sleep in them if my legs feel worn out or feet swollen.

Great article Carolyn. I walked the Camino 4 years ago today and can’t wait to do another one soon. I was 63, the oldest one in my acquired group of Camino family. We met many much older, even into their mid 80’s. Hope my inner tough girl meets your inner tough girl on the trail someday. Buen Camino.

I am 74 and just finished over 200 solo miles of Wales Coastal Paths (Anglesey and Bangor to Porthmadog). I do these long walks in the UK every year and use a UK company to organize the B & Bs and the movement of luggage. So a day pack (but with everything needed for every kind of weather!) is all needed. I do most of Carolyn’s tips. I would add that you need to be sure you know how to read maps and use your compass, practice in several hours of rotten weather, and learn how to get in and out of your rain gear easily! Thanks for a great article.
Jean

Great to hear about another solo hiker and the Wales Coastal Paths! When do you usually go? I used a luggage-carry company in the Lake District, and totally agree that practicing map reading and compass work is essential. So is asking for help from the locals! Enough said about rain gear.

great story and comments! to share, i began practicing yoga in the late 40s to rehab an injury, started taking walks and hiking ~5-years ago. i worked hard, the reward is i now feel confident trying various forms of exercises, enjoy awe inspiring long distance hikes. it’s not too late, i’m mentally and physically in the best shape ever…opt out!

This is a great article and one I wish I had been able to read before starting a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (2660 miles) at age 64. Since finishing the PCT I have continued to train and keep my self in reasonable condition using almost exactly the same methods that Carolyn suggests in the article. It has allowed me to hike thousands more miles on the Colorado Trail, Arizona Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail here in the US. Now, at 69, I take it slow, keep at it, and try to remind myself “the journey is the reward.”